Norwegian Airlines is the low-cost air carrier that is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and is the new major airline that bets on cryptocurrency payments to increase its profit. As the latest news show, Norwegian allows customers to pay for air tickets using cryptocurrency now and hopes that it will help improve results of the company. An interview with the CEO of the crypto exchange Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in the crypto news today suggests this. As per the interview which is published by the local business newspaper DN, the NBX boss Stig Kjos-Mathisen said that “everything is ready from our side" and that the major airline is now prepared for the long-awaited implementation of ticket purchases with crypto. The communications director at Norwegian, Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, was a bit more hesitant to offer specifics and only said that the team is "working on a solution, but we don’t have anything concrete to report about a launch.” The implementation of a crypto payment solution is seen as a new attempt which can help the airline further cut costs and improve its profitability, preventing the financial difficulties of becoming higher. Ever since the father and founder of the airline Bjorn Kjos stepped down as CEO, the major airline has been in trouble in terms of financials. Meanwhile, the NBX CEO further explained that airlines right now pay 1.5% to 2.5% of the ticket price as a fee to credit card companies and that this cost is carried by the consumer. Meanwhile, tickets are bought 30 to 60 days before a trip is made but due to credit card companies that withhold the payments until the time of the departure, the major airline is forced to arrange costly financing from other sources in the meantime.

“Both of these costs will disappear with the implementation of crypto payments,” Kjos-Mathisen said, expressing some optimism on the potential for the payment solution. “If this ends up being cheaper for merchants, and easier and faster for consumers, it can get big. It’s impossible to say how big, but we will be a serious actor who is early in the game."

NBX now supports trading in BTC/USDC, ETH/USDC, ETH/BTC as well as fiat trading in Bitcoin/Norwegian kroner. It is regulated by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority.

The Bitcoin price news today show that the 'lighting Bitcoin' is still below $9,700 but is safely fighting off the $9,600 levels for one more time. On February 20, the price of the most dominant coin dropped by around 9% which was seen as a move that caught investors off guard. However, the BTC price fights the $9,600 level and does not let bears pull it beneath it. Before this, we saw Bitcoin trading at $10,200 and in that range. However, the situation backfired and the most dominant coin reversed. At the time, the ARK Invest analyst Yassine Elmandjra tweeted that the $1,000 price drop was the fifth largest correction to occur on the timeframe since 2017. https://twitter.com/yassineark/status/1230267176747229188?s=12 Ever since the sharp downside move, BTC price fights multiple levels. What is interesting is that everyone is trying to pinpoint the main source of the flash crash and a lot of analysts came with theories. The lighting Bitcoin which was seen above $10,200 is not here anymore and many are trying to locate the reason for that. A handful of theories have arisen in that manner and some attributed the drop in the cryptonews and the volatility now to the consecutive unplanned Binance exchange outages which halted trading on the platform and prevented traders from being able to log into their accounts. Other analysts like filbfilb said that there is a shortage of Tether (USDT) at Binance which contributed to the current market conditions. In his Telegram-based channel, the analyst noted that this USDT shortage possibly shows that the majority of traders were in long positions, an observation which was supported by the decreasing pace of Bitcoin's momentum and the liquidation of $120 million leveraged longs at BitMEX. Regardless of the reasons for this, we can see how BTC price fights off new levels every day. The drop to $9,346 certainly shook a lot of investors from their Bitcoin and altcoin positions and the current state of the market is negatively impacting the investors' bullish sentiment. Still, many are choosing to wait and see how the situation will unfold and if there will be a clear signal that a bottom has been reached. At press time, the price of Bitcoin is at $9,667 with a 1% increase on the day.

If you have logged in today to see news on the topic of regulation crypto exchange and how countries are regulating crypto, this news story is quite connected and similar. As reports show, the major investment bank and financial giant Morgan Stanley is buying the online trading firm E*Trade Financial Group which would extend the bank's offerings to everyday investors. This $13 billion deal marks the largest takeover for Morgan Stanley since the crisis of 2008 which is why it is noteworthy in our cryptocurrency news. The purchase will also see the major investment bank get the 5+ million clients that E*Trade currently has as well as the $360 billion in assets and an online bank. As the Wall Street Journal reported on February 20, the financial giant Morgan Stanley will receive over 4,000 corporate customers as well as $580 billion of stock held on behalf of their employees. At the same time, the CEO of the company Michael Pizzi will retain its position and the company will keep its brand, retail storefronts as well as ad campaigns. In April 2019, E*Trade announced its official plan to begin offering digital currency trading on its platform, when it was related to the regulation crypto exchange news stories. At the time, the company was ready to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) after which it would also add other cryptocurrencies. As for the financial giant Morgan Stanley, they were in the Bitcoin news for trying to launch swaps tracking BTC futures since early fall in 2018 but did not receive a single contract by the end of that year. Nonetheless, the firm is ready to launch cryptocurrency services as soon as there is any sign of demand, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street giant postponed its plans to enter the crypto industry more actively as the value of cryptocurrencies fell at the end of 2018. One of their most recent attempts was the launch of Phemex, a new cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform in Singapore. The developers claim that this platform is ten times faster than the traditional crypto trading platforms - and offering 100x leverage to both retail and institutional investors in BTC, ETH and XRP.  

The multicurrency wallet known as Lumi Wallet has recently announced that it will allow users in the European Union to directly withdraw their Bitcoin (BTC) to the Visa credit cards they own. As we can see from the Bitcoin price news, the situation is not that good but features like these are certainly shaping up the regulaiton in a good way. Lumi Wallet also said that the new feature has been built with simplicity in mind and an easy-to-follow Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedure. Transactions can be initiated quickly, which means that crypto enthusiasts don't need to jump through endless hoops. As the company noted, the current methods of converting crypto to fiat are not that practical. They are creating a "perplexing affair" which is not too dissimilar from the arduous process of getting refunds from an online retailer. Lumi Wallet is certain that selling cryptocurrency is the simplest way to exit a position. However, finding a willing buyer can be difficult and even in that case, the price they are willing to pay might not be reflective of the real price of the asset at the given moment. Additionally, the company behind the wallet says that there are a lot of safety concerns if a would-be buyer has dishonest intentions and by the time a transaction has been finalized, volatility in the market might mean that your crypto is worth substantially less. Ultimately, the issue that Lumi Wallet is trying to face is that middleman appear to have embedded themselves in the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies. When it comes to exchanges, the company believes that there are several downsides having a negative impact on consumers. The team behind the wallet acknowledges that crypto can be intimidating for newcomers and adds that the goal is to demystify the burgeoning industry and make it accessible for everyone. Through a dedicated blog, the company has made a concerted effort to offer a back-to-basics education for people who are exploring the blockchain and cryptocurrency space for the first time - offering posts which explain everything from how decentralized finance works to the key distinctions between types of crypto wallets and other topics. As Lumi Wallet said, all of this could help and build the levels of confidence and credibility that crypto needs and encourage people to purchase coins and tokens for the first time.